A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend NUS’ annual Lead and Change conference.

The conference took part in the capital of the North, Leeds and was a great opportunity to meet my equivalents at other universities. Not only did it allow officers to share stories and best practice among each other but it also allowed us the opportunity to develop our leadership skills and how we approach challenges that student unions face.

On the first day, I attended sessions on understanding the governance of Student Unions, different types of representation, working with minority groups and the importance of self-care.

The second day provided us with training sessions on student engagement, effective campaigning, and networking. That day I also attended workshops on developing our representation system and how the recent changes within the higher education sector will affect us as Student Unions.

On the final day, we discussed how to approach difficult conversations with staff and students as well as work through some mock scenarios that tested what we had learned from the week.

The conference also gave us the chance to hear speeches from the various liberation officers at the NUS about their aims for the year as well as having the opportunity to meet and discuss the year ahead with the other NUS officers such as President Shakira Martin and Vice President (Higher Education) Amatey Doku. In all, it was a great week in the wonderful city of Leeds. We exchanged some great ideas, made new connections and learned a lot.